Unreasonable request from a Tenant?

Hi James

Welcome to Property118.

Trust me, the last thing you want/need is to escalate the dispute with your tenant. The law is an ass and you will lose, certainly in terms of time and stress and possibly financially too. For example, your tenant is perfectly within his/her rights to refuse access to the property, even if the rent payments fall into arrears. Costs of eviction are high and very stressful.

My recommendation is that you go above and beyond to be reasonable.

Offer your tenant an easy way out - see >>> http://www.property118.com/surrender-tenancy-agreement/67939/

Then decide whether you are going to put the property on the market for sale or for rent.

If you do decide to re-let see >>> http://www.property118.com/letting-supermarket-amend-pricing/68829/

Within a month we will have a platform that will enable you to market the property for sale fully tenanted - see >>> http://www.property118.com/buying-selling-tenanted-property/

I hope this helps 🙂
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I would go along with what Mark advised, we've had some really bad tenants so I would just be glad to have the house back in one piece. Until you've had major problems with tenants you really don't realise what a small problem this is. I would be advertising it already, we had great results with OpenRents and get a new tenant in when your present tenant moves out at the end of March.

Reply to the comment left by "Mark Alexander" at "14/03/2015 - 12:22":

Thanks for you response and the links Mark, we will have a read through and take action as required, its very easy to escalate the dispute without taking advice, without a doubt this was one to sleep on last night before responding and making a hard choice even more difficult than required.

Reply to the comment left by "Elaine Hassall" at "14/03/2015 - 13:16":

Thanks Elaine, the whole reason I stumbled upon Property 118 is down to bad tenants before and value the advice submitted on here. Only just last year another property we own went into arrears whilst under management and eventually 6 months later through the courts the tenant was eventually evicted at considerable cost. The second property is a very smart little house just cant seem to get any consistent arrangement over a longer period to fill the house, this makes the current situation a little frustrating when its been kept in good order but the financials don't add up for her.

Reply to the comment left by "JAMES CLAYTON" at "14/03/2015 - 13:24":

Hi James, BTL does give you grey hairs I must admit, we had the same problem with a flat until we got the right tenant for the flat in place and he stayed over 3 years. I would always let the property myself, I don't trust anyone else to look after the rental like I do. You can get so much help and advice from sites like this and see if your local council have a landlord group, you meet like-minded people and again get good advice. As I said OpenRent were great to advertise through, I found if you keep your criteria quite tight and state exactly the type of tenant you want it really helps. If you have a house in a good school catchment try advertising for families, I have a friend who rents, her children go to a local school, she has been in the house for nearly eight years. Hang on in there 😉

Reply to the comment left by "Elaine Hassall" at "14/03/2015 - 14:18":

Hi Elaine

I used to think much the same thing as you until I came across Letting-Supermarket. Their systems are so slick and so cost effective it is a no brainier for me to use them for everything. Read about my recent experience here >>> http://www.property118.com/60-viewing-requests-19-viewings-today-record/72854/

More on services and pricing here >>> http://www.property118.com/letting-supermarket-amend-pricing/68829/

Another great thing about using an ARLA agent is that if they screw up you can sue them and they all have PI insurance and client money protection as a condition of membership 😀
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Hi Mark, I will take a look at the site, best thing about this site, you learn something new every day.

If the house is empty for longer than 30 days your insurance may be invalid. What utilities and upkeep? If she's left it tidy that should be enough. As long as the heating has a frost control why should she leave it on? Would you if you were going away for a period?

There is no point in trying to draw the last drop of blood here. Re-let or sell your property and allow her to terminate her agreement when you do.

I have had this happen several times and the advice given here is sound. Mark is right. Be more than reasonable but don't put yourself out of pocket. Either by digging your heels in and insisting the agreement is honoured in its entirety, or letting the tenant walk away scot free. I normally explain the exact legal position -that the tenant is liable for all costs during then term of the tenancy. This includes the rent, council tax, utilities etc. Well they are if the tenancy agreement is written properly. Then I offer them a deal. An early re-let and early surrender providing that they pay the re-let fee. If the rent is £500 a month x 3 - £1500 and the re-let fee is £300;then they can see that they are saving £1200. The landlord gets a "free" re-let without a void and a nice warm feeling inside!